Bicycles have been in use for many years throughout the world as a means of transportation for short trips, recreation, exercise and sports competition. Over the course of many years of the bicycle's existance, there have been many structural changes streamlining its design and improving its efficiency. The result is today we have sleek, light weight and fast bicycles which are capable of efficiently transferring the energy from the bicycle rider's legs to the wheels of the bicycle. Unfortunately, the designs of bicycle seats, although "streamlined", have not evolved to provide the bicycle with the degree of comfort which is desired and needed with various styles of riding.
Such styles of riding referred to above include those wherein the rider is more disposed to rest his weight upon the pedals through his legs and feet than upon the seat through the buttocks region; those wherein the rider tends to thrust forwardly upon the handle bar through his arms and to press, primarily rearwardly, against the seat with the buttocks region; and those wherein the rider is more disposed to rest his weight primarily upon the seat.
Conventional bicycle seats or saddles are shaped to fit between the legs and in the crotch area of the bicycle rider. Because such seats are relatively uncomfortable and tend to abrade the legs of the rider during movement of the legs, efforts in the past have been made to change the various sizes and shapes of such types of seats and also to include various types of pads or springs. The problem with prior attempts at improving the structural design of the bicycle seat is that, while recognizing that in order to maximize the comfort of the seat it is desirable to uniformly distribute the weight of the rider over a larger area, such seats do not provide the rider with the degree of comfort which is needed and desired while being adaptable to different styles of riding.
The state of the art is exemplified in the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 544,625; U.S. Pat. No. 586,997; U.S. Pat. No. 619,179; U.S. Pat. No. 660,132; U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,462; U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,880; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,925.
While such prior art devices provide improvement in the area intended, there still exists a great need to provide a bicycle seat which provides comfort to the rider while accomodating different styles of use and having a construction which is relatively simple and inexpensive and readily interchangeable with standard bicycle seat mounting structures.
Accordingly, a principal desirable object of the present invention is to provide a bicycle seat that is well suited for different styles of riding while providing comfort to the rider.
Another desirable object of the present invention is to provide a bicycle seat construction which is simple and relatively inexpensive and is formed so as to be readily interchangeable with a standard bicycle seat found on any standard bicycle.
These and other desirable objects and advantages of the invention will in part appear hereinafter and will in part become apparent after consideration of the specification with reference to the accompanying drawings.